Spinning off to a world without tele/visual Who!

[Pip Madeley]

Any spin-off that has a picture of an old orange/white bus on the front of it has got to be worth 20p.

[Wayne]

They could've at least made the effort to put a green Nottingham City Council bus on it, as you see plenty of those in the background.

[Simon R]

My copy had neither bus or never-mentioned-by-anyone Pip n Jane short film.

I'd quite like to see that actually. I bet it's oddly good and much better than the Terror Game itself.

[Wayne]

Breach of the Peace



This one follows on from 'The Terror Game'. Soloman (The Stranger) has escaped & is hiding out in Nottingham, living with a magazine editor called Rose, under the name of Preston. But his fellow cell members, Egan and Saul, have assumed the identities of police officers to track him down, so that he can lead them to the 'breach' & escape back into their own universe.
Basically, this story is just a bit of a runaround based on the above premise. In the end, it doesn't amount to much. Egan & Saul eventually catch up with the Stranger, who says that he's not ready to return, & he's learned the value of other beings besides themselves. But when Egan & Saul threaten Rose's life, he disappears with them into the night.......
This was more like watching an episode of The Bill than Dr.Who, & whilst it wasn't the most exciting thing in the world, at least it didn't bore me rigid. It's definitely the most watchable so far, IMO. It was also interesting for seeing Caroline John in quite a prominent role as a DCI at Nottingham Central Police Station, (Just down the road from me) where much of the location work was filmed, along with various other Nottingham locations. Her acting is reasonable, although she's not a great actress (even as Liz Shaw) IMO, & her attempts at the local accent were mildly amusing. Nick Briggs crops up as a police sergeant, & he's not too bad either. Whilst Colin Baker himself doesn't actually feature all that much, he's ok too, but again it's David Troughton who's probably the best actor on screen, here. So at least this story had a few things going for it to make it at least fairly entertaining.
One more story of 'The Stranger' to go then, before i move onto the infamous 'Airzone Solution'.

[Wayne]

Eye of the Beholder



This one also carries on directly from the last one. The Stranger (Soloman), Egan, & Saul, have apparently travelled through the dimensional web, & have seemingly arrived somewhere back on Earth, but Egan has mysteriously disappeared. Meanwhile at what looks like a farmhouse, a character called Hunter, played by Geoffrey Beavers, is conducting experiments with a girl called Meta, played by the rather attractive Bernadette Gepheart, who seems to have telekenetic, & other strange mental powers. Egan materializes in a barn, where he is shot & held captive by Shelia & Meta. Soon Saul & the Stranger turn up with Hunter, & the next thing we know a load of soldiers turn up, & a couple of them are affected by a strange flash of light, whilst the commanding officer, Major Devlin, is meeting sureptitiously with Shelia & Hunter. It's all getting very mysterious again......
To be honest, nothing much really seems to happen. Egan, Saul, & The Stranger are basically held captive by Shelia, who is the mission commander connected with the scientific experiments taking place on Meta, who in turn gets involved with Egan, who's face Meta somehow saw when the 3 preceptors were transversing the dimensional web, & David Troughton gets a sex scene with the lovely Bernadette Gepheart. Jammy old git.
The gist of the story is that that Hunter's experiments have amplified Meta's mental power to the point where she's able to penetrate beyond her own universe into the dimensional web, which has created a dangerous inter-dimensional disturbance which is causing unstable energy to bleed through. This energy has started to kill some of the humans, & is dangerous to everyone localised around Meta, who is the focal point. This energy is apparently capable of vapourizing several square miles, & has also created 'anti-bodies' by re-animating the corpses of 2 soldiers, which are attempting to seal off the infection by killing everyone. Or something.
A transverse point to the dimensional web is made via Egan's device, & Saul goes back into the web, whilst Egan & Soloman stay behind to try & sort out the chaos. Soloman tells Egan only way to end solve the situation is to destroy Meta. The indestructable soldiers have killed everyone, & at the last second, just as Egan is about to be overpowered, (the soldier coveniently pauses for about 10 seconds with his hands around Egan's throat whilst Soloman decides what to do) Soloman kills Meta, which breaks the cycle, & brings the story to a close.

Well, that brings me to the end of 'The Stranger' series. These last 2 stories have been the best ones, if only by virtue of the fact that the viewer more or less knows what's going on. This last one was in two 45min parts, which didn't help as it was unneccesarily long, but i would actually commend the cast who clearly worked hard, & to be honest, gave very earnest performances, which made it more watchable. I can't pretend that the gorgeous Bernadette Gepheart wasn't a slight factor in that, either.

[Rob McCow]

But overall, was The Stranger series worth bothering with? It sounds to me like it was mostly cobblers.

[Wayne]

But overall, was The Stranger series worth bothering with?

The honest answer to that is: Yes if you can see them for free, & you've got plenty of spare time & you've seen everything else. But i wouldn't shell out your hard earned on the dvds at about 17.99 a throw!
I have to admit they're not much cop, especially the first 3, but i'm satisfying my curiosity, at least.

[Dirk Gently]

Next: The Airzone Solution. Which you'll be pleased to know has a story that isn't that hard to follow.

[Wayne]

The Airzone Solution

I got curious, & decided to watch it this afternoon.



Well this was a pretty dull story based on a simple premise that in a future Britain pollution has become so bad that the population must wear filter masks outside.
Basically the government are backing a company who are developing the techonology to clean the air, but concerned enviromentalists are sceptical, & eventually their real aim to engineer a new race of humans who are able to breathe the polluted air, is exposed.
Over 50mins are spent discovering this fact, in what is basically a runaround for various Who related actors. And there's plenty of them: Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Michael Wisher, Nicola Bryant, Nick Briggs, & even Gary Russell.
But the fact is that it's mainly of interest for being a spot the Who actor exercise, rather than for the story itself, although at least it shows that Nick Briggs is actually a rather better actor than he is a writer, at this stage.
The so called 'sex scene' as previously referred to involving Colin & Nicola's character was actually something of an anti-climax in a sense, as it was about 2 seconds long, But it has to be said that the sight of Colin getting to snog Nicola full on, on several occasions, makes for a slightly bizarre viewing experience. I bet he enjoyed it more than she did!
All in all, it's interesting to have seen it, but it's not something i think i'll be in danger of repeating. Mind you, the splendiferous Bernadette Gepheart (shame about the hair, though!) was in this one again, so between her & Nicola who also looked adorable, it made the viewing experience a bit easier. They should've got those two snogging.
Next up, is: 'Wartime'.

[Simon R]

I paid but 2.99 each for two of The Stranger DVDs. They were in my 'usbands christmas stocking because that's how much I love him.

[SiHart]

I only ever saw the first three or four Stranger videos, and at the time I thought they were ok. It's only in hidsight you realise that really, it wasn't the future at all... thank goodness.

The Airzone Solution I thought was better until I saw it again last year, and found out that really it's just a bit more of the same kind of thing, just with more Doctors in it! It wasn't brilliant, but at least the plotting was abit less bats arsed than The Stranger stories were.

Si xx

[Ralph]

I don't expect a stack of in depth input.

Sounds like my kind of thread!

[Wayne]

The Airzone Solution I thought was better until I saw it again last year, and found out that really it's just a bit more of the same kind of thing, just with more Doctors in it! It wasn't brilliant, but at least the plotting was abit less bats arsed than The Stranger stories were.

Si xx

The Airzone Solution is probably the best one so far. As you say, at least you can follow it! FWIW, i think even 'Breach of the Peace' & 'Eye of the Beholder' are reasonable. They may not be great, but even they are much better than the first few Stranger stories, which goes to show how truly dire those early ones are!

Sounds like my kind of thread!

Better stick to your 'Saint' thread, then.

[Ralph]

Better stick to your 'Saint' thread, then.

[Wayne]

Wartime



While on a seemingly routine delivery run for the Brigadier, to safely transport a radioactive cargo, UNIT's Sergeant Benton finds himself close to his childhood home, where he is plagued by nightmarish memories when he passes a rural site where his younger brother Chris died whilst the two were playing as children. Increasingly bothered by the memory, he becomes trapped in a nightmare world where past and present are one.
Jeez, this was dull! Seriously, this makes the last 2 or 3 Stranger spin-offs seem awesome! Although it's only half hour long, it seemed like the slowest one yet. Endless flashback scenes of Benton as a child with his mother & father, & Benton trying to reconcile himself with the death of his brother & ghost of his dead father.
Although it's a simpilistic theme, there is some scope for a bit of emotional depth here, but John Levene bless him, much as i think he was absolutely fine as Benton in the UNIT era, is simply not up to the challenge it seems, of acting this kind of emotional content. I'm afraid he comes over as thoroughly unconvincing & rather wooden. Shame, because he seems such a nice man on the DW dvd interviews, but Michael Wisher who plays the father, puts him firmly in his place on the acting front in their big confrontation scene together.
My recommendation? - Give this one a miss.
Oh, & Nick Briggs appears briefly as a soldier. Is that guy in everything of this ilk?
Next on the list is 'Shakedown'.

[Simon R]

"Shakedown" is my favourite. It tries less to be like "Doctor Who" and is more a sort of "Blake's 7" thing but with bits of "Alien" and a 90s feel thrown in. It's written by Terrance Dicks too so you get a simplistic story rather than the usual codswollop.

I didn't see "Wartime" until last year and it really is awful. The longest half hour in history.

[Wayne]

"Shakedown" is my favourite. It tries less to be like "Doctor Who" and is more a sort of "Blake's 7" thing but with bits of "Alien" and a 90s feel thrown in. It's written by Terrance Dicks too so you get a simplistic story rather than the usual codswollop.

Thanks for that, Simon. Doesn't sound too bad.

I didn't see "Wartime" until last year and it really is awful. The longest half hour in history.

You mean this could possibly be worse than 'Daemos Rising'?

[Wayne]

Shakedown. (Return of the Sontarans)



The basic story is very simple: The owners of the racing solar yacht 'Tiger Moth' are taken by surprise when their ship is fired upon and boarded during the Shakedown cruise en route to the first race. It turns out that they've inadvertently bumped into the Sontarans, who soon board the vessel because of a possibilty that a Rutan spy may be onboard. The Sontaran Commander Steg will stop at nothing to find and destroy the Rutan, whose intelligence could turn the tide in the age-old Rutan-Sontaran war. One by one, the crew is killed off, & it becomes evident that the Rutan is indeed aboard.......
This story has the distinction of featuring actors not only from Dr.Who, but also from 'Blake's 7'. Jan Chappell plays the captain of the 'Tiger Moth' - Lisa Deranne, along with fellow B7 star Brian Croucher, who plays Kurt; a character whom it is made clear has met the Doctor in the past, although they're not allowed to refer to him as such. The Who representatives are Carole Ann Ford, Sophie Aldred, & Michael Wisher, who all take on slightly more minor roles aboard the ship.
I can't say i was overwhelmed with enthusiasm about this one, although it was certainly better than 'Wartime', i think overall, i still prefer the latter 'Stranger' stories. The performances were variable; I found Jan Chappell the only really convincing one, & Brian Croucher & Michael Wisher were ok, just. Sophie Aldred was clutching at average; She's not the worst actress ever, but she does have her limitations. Carole Ann Ford's performance i just couldn't take to. She's pretty dreadful, IMO.
Worse than all of these put together though, were the guys who played the Sontarans. It didn't help that visually they were so badly realised, with cheap anorak versions of the original Sontaran costume, & slighty odd, poor looking versions of the Sontaran mask, or head. But i could've accepted all this if the acting hadn't been so bad, & things were further downgraded by repetitious, word for word dialogue straight from the classic series that we've all heard before. Even bizarrely, some Cyberman dialogue. :
The Rutan at least, wasn't too bad, At least they got the voice right, But the storyline itself wasn't very exciting in the first place, so it's difficult to get involved in what felt like a worst of the 80's runaround. All in all, this made for an underwhelming viewing experience, i'm afraid.
Still, i'll see what i make of 'Downtime', which is next up. Although, with my sister arriving for a week very soon, it might be a good excuse to take a week off.

[Simon R]

Lis Sladen was fingered for the part of Lisa Duran Duran and it was written especially for her but she pulled out for reasons unknown.

"Downtime" is ok if very complicated plot wise. It's probably the most expensive looking thanks to all manner of sponsors (Ian Levine amongst them) and is actually shot by a professional TV director...albeit a not always that good one.

[Wayne]

Lis Sladen was fingered for the part of Lisa Duran Duran and it was written especially for her but she pulled out for reasons unknown.

"Downtime" is ok if very complicated plot wise. It's probably the most expensive looking thanks to all manner of sponsors (Ian Levine amongst them) and is actually shot by a professional TV director...albeit a not always that good one.

Thanks again for your input, Simon. I'll be interested to checkout 'Downtime'. Though it probably won't be for another week.

[Matthew T]

Downtime is the only one of these I've ever seen and that was 10 years ago. The video remained on my shelf unwatched until I sold it last year - I seem to recall it had the feel of a cheap early 90s CBBC production, with yetis shot on video in bright sunlight.

[Lord President]

I partly enjoyed Shakedown! Jan Chappel & Brian Croucher are both excellent, Ford and Aldred both overact so much that they scare me more than the Sontarans.

This story works OK, but it works even better as the second act of the three-part novel written by Terrance Dicks for Virgin! The novel explains much more about the Sontaran look as well.


Downtime seems to be too complicated for its own good. The Brigadier 'tripping out', Victoria being controlled again, Sarah-Jane turning up just in time, The Brig's family, Yetis, Probably the least trendy DJ since DLT, and clone students from hell!

On the plus side, Courtney is good as always, it is always good to see Liz Sladen in anything, the Yeti are quite well done, and Geoffrey Beevers is very good too!

[Paul Clement]

I partly enjoyed Downtime! Jan Chappel & Brian Croucher are both excellent, Ford and Aldred both overact so much that they scare me more than the Sontarans.

That'd be Shakedown then.

[Paul Clement]

I must be the only person who actually enjoyed watching Wartime. I certainly found it better than most of the range of spin off videos apart from the Auton Trilogy and the Winterborne stories.
I generally preferred the audios to the videos, with nothing beating Krynoid: Root of All Evil.

[Lord President]

That'd be Shakedown then.

Thanks for pointing that out for me Paul, I've got a hangover and I've only been out of bed for 10 minutes, my brain is still 'booting up'!